THIS PIECE by political scientists† Yanna Krupnikov and Samara Klar is food for thought:

Earlier this week, Gallup announced that Americans are more politically independent than ever.† But, like most survey findings, the fact that 42 percent of Americans now identify as independent is not as straightforward as it initially seems. Indeed, as John Sides pointed out, most Americans who identify as independent often act in a partisan fashion, even if they are not as partisans as the true believers.

So why are people telling surveys they are independent when, in fact, they often behave in a fashion more similar ... Read more